Plant Biology and Ecology

obowiązkowe

Substantive content:

The main goal of the course is to introduce students with the primary concepts and methods used in plants biology and ecology. Students will carry out the research from framing the questions, through design and conducting the study in the field, to data visualization and interpretation. Laboratory and field works will focused on two main subjects: 1) collecting the data about plants size structure and reproduction and spatial patterns of plant populations in context of different environmental conditions and plants communities; 2) the second goal of the course is to present biological and ecological aspects of plant breeding system as an evolutionary adaptation to challenges posed by pollinators limitation. The primary subjects e.g. What is “plant breeding system”? Evolutionary consequences of self- and cross-pollination. Why plants are self-compatible? How floral architecture protects against self-pollination? How plant community shapes breeding system of the particular plant species?

Place: Turczyński and Zwierzyniecki Forests (Białystok).

Literature:

1.Charlesworth, Deborah. "Evolution of plant breeding systems." Current Biology 16.17 (2006): 726-735.

2.Jersáková, Jana, and Pavel Kindlmann. "Reproductive success and sex variation in nectarless and rewarding orchids." International Journal of Plant Sciences 165.5 (2004): 779-785.

3.Goodwillie, Carol, Susan Kalisz, and Christopher G. Eckert. "The evolutionary enigma of mixed mating systems in plants: occurrence, theoretical explanations, and empirical evidence." Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst. 36 (2005): 47-79.

4.Willmer, Pat. Pollination and floral ecology. Princeton University Press, 2011.

5. Gibson D.J. 2002. Methods in comparative plant population ecology. Oxford University Press.

6. Falińska K. 1998. Plant Population Biology and Vegetation Processes. W. Szafer Institute of Botany, Polish Academy of Science, p. 368.

Forms and conditions of credit: 1) 100% attendance, 2) active participation in the course, 3) preparing a protocol of laboratory and field studies according to scheme prepared by instructor.